Last week I attended a discussion of a new report on Latinos in the Chicago suburbs and in particular, the challenges municipalities are facing in successfully integrating Latino immigrants into suburban communities. The report was jointly released by the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.
It was an eye-opening event. Currently, more than half of Chicago Latinos live in the suburbs, and that number is steadily growing, due mostly to birth rates and not immigration patterns.
For many municipalities, this is uncharted territory. On the one hand, many (though not all) recognize that they should provide culturally-relevant services to their newest residents. On the other hand, others are being pressured by some long-time, non-Hispanic residents, afraid that their home values will dip and angry about having to “press 1 for English,” to not make any changes. As a caveat, there are many who see the value immigrants bring to their community.
The discussion was frank and often-times heated, but as the moderator noted, absolutely necessary because the only way to solve tough issues is to address them head-on.
It’s true that savvy marketers – and the media – have begun to recognize that Hispanics are no longer concentrated in urban centers. In Chicago, Reflejos, one of our largest bilingual newspapers, only covers the suburbs, and earlier this year, Hoy beefed up its suburban coverage.
It used to be said that reaching Hispanics was extremely efficient because they lived in only a few areas of the country. As previously discussed at FH Hispania Plaza, this has not been true for some time.
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